The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-06-23
ST. STEPHEN.
Rev. Dr. Talmage's Discourse at the
ss5.l4I'f Tabernacle.

tyrdom Gazine Into Heaven Locking
at Chris:-stonedAEi Dying Prayer
Asleep
BROOKLYN, June 12.-This morning Mt
the tabernacle the Rev. II. lie Witt T-!.
mage, D., D., expounded app! Opriate pass
ages of scripture, ter which the congre-
cation sang the favorite hymn: lhele is
rest for the weary" The rev, rend doctors
text WIS Acts vii. $3.50: "B hold, | see..
the heavens opened, and The Son of Nan
standing OH lie right hand Of Col. Then
they erie out wi b d loud voice and
stopped their ears, and ran upon him with
one accord. and cast him out o. the city,
and stoned him; ana the. witnesses laid
down their Clothes ut n y, ung mn's feet
whose name was Saul. And they s.oned
Stephen, calling upon God and saving,
Lord Jesus, receive NY spirit. and he
kneeled down, and cried wi Ii a loud
voice, Lord. lay not this sin 10 their
charge. And when he had aid this, he
fell asleep" The preacher snid '.
a Stephen had been preaching a Iousing
sermon, and the people could not stand II.
They resolved TO 90 as men sometimes
would like 10 do in This day, if they dared,
with some plain preacher of righteous
ness = kill him. The only way to silence
this man was TO knt ok the breath out of
him. So they rushed Stephen out of the
gates Of the city, and with curse, and
whoop, and below they brought him 10 the
cliff, as was the custom when they wanted
to take away life by stoning. Having
brought him to the edge OF the cliff they
pushed him off. After he had fallen they
came and looked down, and s'eiEg that he
was not yet dead, tley began to drop
stones upon him, stone after stone, stone
after stone. mid this horrible rain of
missiles Stephen Chambers up on Lis
knees and folds his hands, while the blood
drips from his temples to Lis cheeks, from
his cheeks to his garments, fromfhis gar
ments to the grouno; and then, looking ny,
he makes TWO prayers, one for Limse +
and one for his murderers. "Lord Jtsus,
receive my spirit" that was for himself.
"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge"
that was for his assalnnts. Then, rom
pain and loss of blood, he swoored away
and fell asleep.
l want to show you to-day five pictures
Stephen gazing into heaven, Stephen
looking at Christ, Stephen stoned, Stephen
in his dying prayer, Stephen asleep.
First, look at Stephen gazing into
Heaven. Before you take leap you want
to know where you are going TO land. be-
fore You climb a ladder You want 10 know
to what point the ladder reaches. And it
was right that Stephen, within few no-
ments of Heaven, should be gazing INTO it.
We would all do well TO he found in the
same posture. There is enough IN Heaven
to keep US gazing. 4 man OF large wealth
may have statuary in the hal, ,nnd paint
ings in tie sitting -rocm, and works OF art
in all rarts of the house; but he has the
chief pictures III the art gal cry, and ther:,
hour after hour, you walk with catalogue
and glass and ever increasing admiration.
Well, Heaven is the gallery where God has
gathered the chief treasures of his realm.
The whole universe is his palace. In this
lower room where we stop there are many
dolnments-te5sellated floor of amethyst
and blossom, and on the winding cloud
stairs are stretched out canvas On which
commingle azure, and purple, and saffron,
and gold. But Heaven is the gallery in
which the chiet glories are gathered.
There are the brightest robes. There are
the richest crowns. There are the highest
exhilarations. John says of it: "The
kings Of the earth shall bring their honor
, and glory into it" And l see the process
sion forming; and in the line come all en-
pires, and the stars spring up into an arch
For the hosts to march under. They keep
step to the sound of earthquake and the
' pitch of avalanche from the the mountains,
/ and the flag they bear is the flame OF a
consuming world, and all Heaven turns
| out with harps and trumpets and myriad
| voiced acclamation Of angelic dominion to
, welcome them in, and SO the kings of the
] earth bring their honor and glory into it,
! Do you wonder that good people often
stand like Stephen, looking into Heaven;
/ We have great many friends there. There
| is not man in this house to-day so iso-
latediin life but there is some one in
| Heaven with whom he once shook hands.
| As a man gets older the number OF his
! celestial acquaintance very rapidly multi
/ plies. We have not had one glimpse OF
them since the night we kissed them good
| bye and they went away; but still we stand
| gazing at Heaven. AS when some o. oul
| friends go across the sea we stand on the
| dock or on the steamtug and watch them
[ and offer awhile the hulk of the vessel dis
| appears, and then there is only patch OF
sail on the sky, and soon she is gone, and
they are all out OF sight, and vet we stant
| looking in the same direction; so when oul
friends go away from us into the future
world We keep looking through The Mar
rows, and gazing and gaH ne. nA though Nt
=
stand on some evening .oud, and give rs
one glimpse of their 6lissful and trans.
. figured faces. While you long TO ioir
| their companionshp, and the years and
| the days 90 with such tedium that they
break your heart, and the viper of pair
! and sorrow and bereavement keeps gnaw.
| ing at your vitals, you still stand, like
! Stephen, gazing into Heaven. You won
| der if they have changed since you saw
them last. You wonder if they recognize
yoNr face now, SO changed has it been witt
trouble. You wonder il, amid the myriad
delights they have, they care as much for
you as they used to when they gave you q
! helping hand and put their shoulder under
your burdens. You wonder if they look
any older; and sometimes in the
eveninqtide, when the house is all quiet,
you wonder if you should call them by
their first name if they would not answer,
and perhaps sometimes YOU do make the
experiment, and when no one but God and
yourself are there you distinctly call their
names, and listen and wait, and sit gazing
into Heaven.
Pass on now and see Stephen looking
upon Christ. My text says he saw the Son
Of mad at the right hand of God. Just
how Christ looked in this world, Just how
he looks in Heaven. we cannot say. A
writer in the time of Christ says, descrih-
ing the Savior's personal appearance, that
he had blue eyes and light complexion,
and very graceful structure; but / suppose
it was all guess work. Yhe painters Of the
different ages have tried TO imagine the
features of Christ, and put them upon
canvas; but we will have to wait until with
our own eyes we see Him and with our own
ears We can hear Him. And yet there is o
way.of seeing and hearing Him now. I
hear Christ on earth, you will never SEQ
and hear Him in Heaven, Look! There
He is. Behold the Lamb of God. Can
you not see Him? Then pray to God to
take the scales of your eyes. Look that
nrn ir1r 10 lnnl. Inf Nrn Ia